Note: photo is from earlier in 2019
If everything proceeds as planned, construction on a facility designed to conduct research on elk hoof disease will wrap up before the end of 2019. The $1.2 million lab is located on the campus of Washington State University.
“We’ve got to manage our expectations and recognize that this is a very complex situation. It’s not as though we can just do one experiment and have the answers to everything,” Margaret Wild, lead scientist, told the Daily Chronicle. “Through time, we will do additional experiments where we manipulate variables and test other components that might make the elk more susceptible to the disease or less susceptible to the disease.”
Captive elk are expected to be introduced to the facility in spring of 2020.
The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation previously awarded a $100,000 grant to assist with construction.
(Photo source: Henry More Jr. BCU/WSU)